


One of Those Days

by Shi_Toyu



Series: Day by Day [1]
Category: Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Depression, Emotional Hurt, Exhaustion, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Mental Exhaustion, Mental Health Issues, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Survival, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, emotional exhaustion, not a happy fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 03:10:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11820021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shi_Toyu/pseuds/Shi_Toyu
Summary: They don't happen often, but every once in awhile Tony will just have One of Those Days. It's fine. He's dealing with it. There's nothing to worry about.





	One of Those Days

Tony did a lot. He was very aware of just how much he juggled, between SI and SHIELD and the Avengers. He delegated what he could, but there was a massive amount that he couldn’t pass on to anyone else. He had to be the one to handle it. That was okay. He liked it that way, even. Pepper had once jokingly said that if Tony had 30 spare seconds left in a day he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. She wasn’t wrong.

It gave him a reason to get up in the morning, a reason to drag himself out of bed and get to work. It gave him purpose and fulfillment. It made him _happy_ to be able to contribute, even if he snarked and complained the entire time.

Some days, though… Some days it was just too much.

It wasn’t the pressure, though that did get to him from time to time. The pressure tended to make him snappish and frustrated.

Today, Tony just didn’t want to even get out of bed.

His brain was still running, still mulling over his projects and schedule. He knew he had things to do, things he needed to get to, but he just couldn’t muster up the desire to get out of the bed. He wasn’t tired, hadn’t even stayed up late the night before. He just didn’t want to get up.

He rolled over and went back to sleep.

The pattern repeated itself through two more awakenings, each about an hour apart, before his body decided it absolutely couldn’t sleep any longer. Then Tony was left just laying under the sheets. His limbs felt heavy, but it wasn’t like that was keeping him from moving. He was perfectly capable, physically, of getting up and out of bed. He just didn’t want to.

“Sir,” JARVIS spoke, voice soft even though he knew Tony was already well awake, “Ms. Potts is attempting to reach you.”

Tony knew he should take the call. Even if he didn’t have a regular SI work schedule, he still had responsibilities. She probably hadn’t realized he wasn’t in his lab, was probably just calling to rail at him about this or that piece of paperwork he was neglecting. There was always something going on that needed his attention.

He didn’t move.

“I have informed Ms. Potts that you are indisposed with a project, Sir,” JARVIS continued when it became clear Tony had no intention of answering him. “I will hold all other calls as well.”

Tony’s eyes slipped closed as he let out a long breath. People were hard. They were so hard. It took so much energy to deal with them. He didn’t have that kind of energy. Not today.

The hours ticked by slowly, filled only by his staring at the wall or his blacked-out windows. He couldn’t handle looking out over the city. It was just… too much. It seemed like an overwhelming task, actually having to see the sky. Too much stimulation.

Eventually, he slept again, though it was only a light doze. He wasn’t exactly getting enough activity to make himself tired. His mind still worked, though, and that was maddening. He tried to pull up some designs with his holograms but… it just… it was too much. He couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t organize his thoughts. He shut them back down again each time without actually doing anything.

He just lay there.

It wasn’t until late in the evening that he actually managed to drag himself out of his bed and toward the kitchen. He pulled on the jeans and t-shirt he’d stripped out of the day before if only because they were still on his floor and the easiest things to reach, and then only just in case he had the bad luck of running into someone. He didn’t bother with shoes as he padded down the hallway and toward the kitchen. There was leftover Thai in the fridge, and Tony ate it out of the carton cold. He dumped both the carton and the fork into the sink when he was done and headed back to his room. They were things he could deal with tomorrow.

He felt exhausted.

The shirt and jeans landed back on his floor before he crawled back into bed and closed his eyes. Tomorrow he would be playing double duty in order to catch up on everything he’d put off, but that was okay. He could handle it tomorrow.

Just not today.

**Author's Note:**

> So apparently everything I touch right now turns to angst.


End file.
